Tough times at the once-mighty Farmville studio Zynga. The company announced $100 million in cuts. CEO Mark Pincus: ”We are reducing our workforce by 364 people or approximately 18%, decreasing our outside services and reducing our central function.” Yikes.
On Cliff Bleszinski, Zynga & Meetings
Cliff "Cliffy "Dude Huge" B" Bleszinski, formerly of Epic but on a break for a while, has a new gig. It's being published by Nexon, but before signing on that dotted line, he met with pretty much everyone. And that included Zynga.
In early 2013, 53 million people were actively playing Zynga games. Twelve months later, that number has dropped to 28 million.
Anti-Candy Crush Game 'Trademarks' All Of Your Words
Remember the drama when the makers of Candy Crush Saga tried to trademark the word "candy?" And then they wanted to put a claim on "saga," too. Of course, trademarking a name isn't the same as owning it. Regardless, a new game shows you what it would be like to have everyday words become verboten someone else "owns"…
Zynga Boosts Its Mobile Lineup With New FarmVille, Words With Friends
In a special note today to players thanking them for six years of support, Zynga chief operating officer Clive Downie revealed three new mobile titles soon to be released worldwide, including a FarmVille 2 game that's completely different from its Facebook counterpart.
In case you've forgotten about them, Zynga still exists. And they still have enough money to acquire other smaller game development companies. The Farmville company just announced that, for $527 million dollars, they've bought NaturalMotion—the creators of the Backbreaker, Clumsy Ninja and CSR Racing series—and that…
You Can Buy Farmville Stuff With Bitcoin Now
Bitcoin, the "currency of the Internet," is now accepted by Zynga, whose FarmVille franchise also celebrates the economic ideal of paying real cash to acquire completely abstract commodities.
Report: Zynga Founder Asked Obama To "Pardon" Edward Snowden
Yesterday, a bunch of America's leading tech sector executives met with US President Barack Obama. They were meant to be talking about the failure of Heathcare.gov, but things got really interesting when the conversation moved onto the fate of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
"When I saw the rise of Zynga and tried out some of their games on Facebook, I noticed some of the same design patterns that we use in slot machines." Kotaku reader SpiffyPirate works with slot machines and talks about the similarities he sees between design ideas in that industry and in Zynga's games.
Zynga Boss Proves He's Totally Out Of Touch With Games
“Right now, I’m pretty bored with all games.” That’s Mark Pincus, founder of Farmville company Zynga, as he spoke with an assemblage of tech entrepreneurs in Israel last night. Bored? More like not paying attention. It’s an incredibly exciting time in game development now, Mr. Pincus. All you need to do to see that is…
There were tons of personnel changes at Zynga, announced today by ex-Xbox boss and new Zynga boss Don Mattrick. The CTO, COO and Chief People Officer are out. Read through the changes and your head may spin. Big changes continue at the house of FarmVille.
Sex App Bang With Friends Sued Over Its Name
Zynga, the social gaming company that owns the trademark to the title "Words With Friends", is suing Bang With Friends Inc., a company founded to help Facebook users find "casual sex".
Zynga Dethroned As The King Of Facebook Games
January of this year marked the first time in ages a non-Zynga game made it to the top of the Facebook app charts, as FarmVille 2 was passed in active users by King's ridiculously popular Candy Crush Saga. According to the latest estimates from app metrics site AppData, today King took the crown as overall top…
Hey, Look, It's Don Mattrick on a Canadian Game Show 30 Years Ago
Don Mattrick has, reportedly, 50 million reasons to smile this week, ditching Microsoft and all things Xbox for Zynga and the leadership of all things 'Ville. But you can see traces of that big money smile going back 30 years, when he appeared on a newsmakers-style quiz show on CBC.
Zynga Mistake Puts Random Stranger In Customer Support Role
In select circumstances, until earlier today, the Zynga game Coasterville told users to email a certain address @themepark.com if something went wrong. The problem is, that email address didn't belong to a Zynga employee.
CNBC Calls Zynga a ‘Buy’ Now That Former Xbox Boss Is CEO
Sure, some people think that former Xbox czar Don Mattrick isn’t going to turn Zynga’s miserable fortunes around. But, other individuals— business-minded folk—think the exact opposite.
Francis’ Oddly Appropriate Analogy Links Former Xbox Boss To Farts
Everybody's favorite combustible video game commentator usually doesn't comment on companies' personnel moves. But, clearly Don Mattrick's move to Zynga has inflamed Francis more than, say, the departure of former EA CEO John Riccitiello. The result? Lines like this: "It's like hiring the pilot from the Hindenburg to…
Don Mattrick Is Now the CEO of Zynga [UPDATE: Mattrick weighs in]
After an earlier report said that he'd be leaving Microsoft, Don Mattrick has just been announced as CEO of Zynga. Here's Mark Pincus' letter detailing the changes at the Farmville company:
Report: The Man in Charge of Xbox Is Leaving Microsoft
Don Mattrick, who's been the public face for all things Xbox for the last few years, will be leaving Microsoft to take a top leadership role at Zynga, reports All Things D.
They Mastered Rhythm Games. How Does iNiS Handle Tower Offense?
Japanese developer iNiS — the name's an acronym for "infinite Noise of the inner Soul" — has spent the past decade and a half perfecting the art of the rhythm game. From classics like Gitaroo Man and Elite Beat Agents to not-so-classics like last year's DLC-packed Demon's Score, iNiShave mastered the melding of sound…
